McAlary Family History

Hugh Joseph "Tood" McAlary MM 1893-1918 Hugh Joseph McAlary CSM MM is my paternal 1st cousin 2x removed.  My 2x great grandparents Daniel McAlary and Martha McIlhinney are our shared common ancestors. Daniel & Martha were the first McAlary ancestors to immigrate to Australia from Northern Ireland in January 1844. They were Hugh Joseph's paternal grandparents.  Hugh Joseph was known to his family and friends as "Tood". Hugh Joseph McAlary was born on 11 May 1893 in Coonamble, central New South Wales, to Bernard James McAlary, grazier, and his wife Rose McAlary. Hugh had three brothers: Daniel James (1891-1978), William John (1895-1933), Patrick Aloysius (1897-1913) and a sister Mary Josephine (1900-1961).  Hugh was educated at the Coonamble College. On leaving school, Hugh worked on the family property "Yarranville" in Coonamble.  Hugh Joseph McAlary enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on the 19 June 1916 at the age of 23 years and 1 mon...

  Deciding who to write about first is my present dilemma. Will it be the elusive Felix Chatel who I re-discovered by DNA 100 years after he went missing? Will it be James Fitzpatrick my 3x great granduncle, convict, who as a result of being on the Hume and Hovell expedition became a very wealthy landowner in early NSW? Will my Canadian family, the Hood's be my first subject, explaining how I discovered they had changed their name from Dubois? Will my 1st cousin twice removed, Hugh Bernard McAlary, a WW1 Military Medal recipient get the honour? Or perhaps it will be my 3x great grandfather Thomas Hanley who survived the 1852 Flood in Gundagai, only to die three weeks later? I'm still not sure who will have the honour of being first. But one thing is for sure, in time,  I will write about all of these ancestors and many more.... stay tuned!